After suffering four consecutive losses, including a series sweep at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, the Arizona Diamondbacks have dropped three places in the official MLB Power Rankings.
Once ranked within the top-10, Will Leitch attributed the D-backs’ recent downturn to a reversal of their previous season’s form.
Instead of being the team known for dramatic comebacks, as they were last season, the Diamondbacks are now frequently relinquishing leads, primarily due to a bullpen that has been extremely worrisome.
In a recent example of this troubling trend, Arizona managed to score six runs in the first inning against the Braves, only to suffer a narrow 9-8 defeat.
Leitch wrote, “All that excitement in The Bronx and Atlanta came at the expense of the Diamondbacks, who lost five of six from two of the hottest teams playing right now. Ironically, the D-backs are playing backwards from last year, when they famously made the World Series despite being outscored: Right now they’ve outscored their opponents by 16 runs … but have a losing record.”
As pointed out by Leitch, despite a losing record, the Diamondbacks have outscored their opponents by a noticeable margin. This anomaly is partly due to a streak of close losses, including three games decided by a single run, two of which extended into extra innings.
These is a silver lining for the Diamondbacks, however. The imminent return of pitchers Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez to their rotation is expected to alleviate some of the pressure on their struggling bullpen.
Looking ahead, the Diamondbacks are set to face the Rockies in a three-game series on the road.
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